Planet of the Apes 3

If you’d told me a decade ago that one of my most highly anticipated moments of the summer would be a showdown between Woody Harrelson and a CGI primate, I probably would have politely excused myself, driven to the local video store, rented a VHS copy of Clint Eastwood’s Every Which Way But Loose, and smacked you over the head with the cassette tape. My, how things change. Under the careful eye of director Matt Reeves, the war between primates and mankind is now one of the hottest summer tickets, and the early trailers and teasers for War for the Planet of the Apes promise one of the best big-budget movies of the year.

On Thursday, 20th Century Fox showed journalists some sneak peek footage from the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes. I got to see some brand new unreleased footage, hear some details from director Matt Reeves, and see the new trailer.

Few franchises have had a more successful or impressive reinvention in recent years as Planet of the Apes. The original series, beloved in its day, petered out by the middle of the 1970s, and the first attempt to revive it, in a 2001 film from director Tim Burton, proved disastrous. But the new prequel series, charting the descent of our human world into a planet full of those damn, dirty apes, has breathed new life into the old property. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a late-summer hit in August 2011, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes outgrossed it three years later. (It made about $30 million more in the U.S. and a whopping $220 million more worldwide.)

We are living in the franchise-heavy film era, which can sometimes feel exhausting (see: ‘Transformers’) or can sometimes be very enjoyable, depending on the product. In television, having a clear endpoint in mind is a good thing (see: ‘Breaking Bad’); meanwhile, studios are now planning their franchises out years in advance. Again, this can be good (Marvel), or, as our own Matt Singer bemoaned, it leads to what he finds to be an unnecessary splitting of the final chapter to extend the life of a franchise. It’s refreshing, then, to know that some studios are playing things a little looser with their franchises, like hearing Andy Serkis say that he just isn’t sure how many ‘Planet of the Apes’ movies there will be.

With Fox currently pushing to get Andy Serkis nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and with the film hitting Blu-ray and DVD soon, and with a third installment in the works, it was only a matter of time before we started hearing rumblings about the sequel. Director Matt Reeves has begun teasing what we can expect from the next chapter in the 'Apes' franchise -- specifically, what we can expect from Serkis' compelling Caesar character.

Though he won't admit it verbally, there's something in the tone of Matt Reeves' voice that reveals that he knows that he has something special with his new film, 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.' I suspect Matt Reeves would be a terrible poker player.

20th Century Fox is so confident in director Matt Reeves' work on 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' that they've just signed the helmer for a follow-up, with writers already being wrangled to write the third prequel to the beloved original 'Planet of the Apes' series.